Falling in Love is Easy
by notimetowaste
Summary: Just one date wasn't enough for Rachel and Nick. Maybe they both needed to fall in love. Continuation from Blind Date.
1. Chapter 1

_New story! After writing Blind Date I realised there was no way I could let go of these characters any time soon! It's definitely a good idea to read Blind Date before reading this, just so you know what's actually going on between Nick and Rachel. So, I hope you enjoy! :)_

* * *

Nick was ninety percent sure that he had never been so frustrated before. Not even when his laptop went on the blink and destroyed his term paper for the final year of college. Nope, that didn't even come close to what he was going through right now. Compared to some people, his problems might be trivial, but to him, they were monumental. Having writer's block was not a good thing for an author to have. Neither was agonising over whether or not to call Rachel and finally ask her out on their second date. He had already wasted countless hours doing so, and was beginning to wear a hole in the rug as he paced back and forth on it. Every time he'd pick up his iPhone and scroll through the contacts until he found her name. Then his thumb would hover in mid-air, and his mind would decide it was a bad idea, regardless of what Blaine had told him when they met up for coffee the afternoon after Nick and Rachel's blind date.

Nick sat down on his sofa and remembered the events of the afternoon, his iPhone still tightly clutched in his left hand.

"_So, how did last night go?" Blaine asked. Nick smiled at how straight-forward his friend was, Blaine was never one to beat around the bush. _

"_It went very well, thank you. We both enjoyed ourselves," Nick replied, not really sure on what Blaine wanted to know. He played around with the sugar packets on the table, attempting to buy himself some time._

"_I don't think enjoyed is the right word to describe Rachel's evening," Blaine said, quickly continuing on when he saw his friend's panic-stricken expression. "What I mean, is that all she spoke about this morning at rehearsal was last night and how wonderful it was. She was seriously singing your praises. Well, not literally. But you get the point. She keeps gushing over how gentlemanly you were too. Apparently, you didn't go in for the kill? Only kissed her cheek?"_

_Nick's blush said everything, yet he still opened his mouth to reply, "I didn't want to scare her off, you know? I just-. It's stupid."_

"_It's not stupid," Blaine corrected, "it's actually kind of adorable. And who do you have to thank?"_

_Nick rolled his eyes, knowing that Kurt and Blaine would be bragging about this for months, maybe even years, to come. _

"_So, when's the second date?" Blaine questioned, a cheeky glint in his eyes, "and before you protest, Rachel most definitely wants another one."_

Blaine had told Nick outright, and Nick knew Blaine wouldn't lie to him, yet he still couldn't muster up the courage to ask Rachel. This was pathetic. No, _he _was pathetic. He was Nick Duval, New York Times best-selling author, also too afraid to ask out a girl on a second date. One she was also eager to go on. Not that he could even think of anywhere to take her. She had explicitly said she wanted something a little less high maintenance than their previous date, much to his relief. However, that didn't mean that an idea was any easier to conjure up. Nick allowed his eyes to scan his apartment floor, hoping that inspiration would hit him, for either his damned writer's block, or with an idea for a date. His eyes settled on a dusty pair of inline skates, and a smile slowly began forming on his lips. When he stood up and looked out of the large window in his apartment, he could see central park from here.

"Central park plus inline skates equals one casual date for Rachel Berry," Nick murmured, grabbing his phone and pulling up Rachel's contact information. Just as his thumb was about to hit call, he froze, and panic suddenly washed over him. What happens if she thought the date was a dumb idea? Could she even skate? Would she want to risk the injury, especially with her show so close? Nick shrugged, finally shaking off all those doubts. The worse she could say was no, after all.

Rachel sat on the couch in Kurt and Blaine's apartment, pretending to listen to Kurt as he wittered on about the fashion show he was preparing for. Ever since she had been on her blind date with Nick, she had been expectantly waiting for a call from him. Unfortunately, that call hadn't happened, and Rachel was left pondering over what exactly had gone wrong. She thought Nick had enjoyed himself as much as Rachel had, he had even asked her if she was interested in a second date with him. Maybe he just asked because she expected him too.

"Rachel?" Rachel knocked herself out of her thoughts and was surprised to find Kurt stood in front of her, his hands placed on his hips. "Were you listening to me?" Kurt sighed at her silence and elegantly plopped himself down on the sofa next to Rachel, reaching out to clasp one of her hands with his own.

"Stop worrying. He will call you, he's just shy. And going through some nasty writer's block," Kurt said. "Maybe you should call him."

"Nope. No way. Nu uh," Rachel replied, "I do not want to seem desperate."

"Please!" Kurt snorted, shaking his head. "Desperate was me at the recent Versace show. You, Miss Rachel Berry, are not desperate, no matter what you do."

"Unless it involves a Tony award?" Rachel giggled, and Kurt smiled at their old joke. The pair continued their chit chat before being interrupted by Rachel's phone ringing. Rachel scrambled to answer it, butterflies exploding in her stomach when she saw it was an unrecognised number. She brought it up to her ear, praying it was Nick calling her and not some crazed super-fan again.

"Hi, Rachel? It's Nick." Rachel had to contain her squeal, whacking Kurt on the knee, mouthing Nick's name and pointing at her phone all at the same time.

"Hi, Nick!" Rachel replied, causing Kurt to wince at her enthusiasm.

"I was wondering if you'd like to go on a date sometime next week?" Nick questioned with a hint of uncertainty in his voice.

"I'd love to!" Rachel replied brightly, pointedly turning her back on Kurt as he started to burst into a small fit of giggles.

"Great! How does meeting me in Central Park at Midday on Wednesday sound?"

"Fantastic," Rachel murmured, mentally going through her diary and hoping she had nothing else booked in. Their conversation ended, and Rachel threw her phone on Kurt's coffee table, happily sinking into the sofa cushions.

"See? I told you he'd call," Kurt sang, "now, let me tell you about my show, and you **need **to listen this time."


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: I'm kind of falling in love with this story._

* * *

Rachel practically bounced into Central Park dead on midday, a smile firmly on her face as she searched for Nick. Dodging several groups of tourists, she found him sat on a park bench, a notepad in hand and a large backpack next to him.

"Rachel!" Nick exclaimed, jumping up from the bench as his eyes met Rachel's. Quickly shoving the notepad inside his backpack, he took a small step forward and wrapped his arms around her briefly, marvelling at how natural the movement felt to him.

"So, what do you have planned for us?" Rachel questioned, eager to find out what her date would entail. Both Kurt and herself had been throwing around ideas as to what Nick might have planned, yet Nick's reply was nothing either of them had come close to mentioning.

"We're going roller-skating!" Nick announced, producing two pairs of slightly battered skates from his bag.

"Really?" Rachel questioned, her smile growing even bigger, "I haven't done that in years! Oh I'm so excited!"

Rachel continued babbling happily as she pulled her skates on quickly. Nick marvelled at her elegant grace, it was no surprise she was so successful on Broadway. Once his skates were on securely, goodness knows he didn't want to trip and fall flat on his face, especially in front of Rachel; he pushed off the bench and swung his backpack onto his shoulders. He turned slowly, expecting Rachel to already be standing and raring to go. Instead he found her with a small frown on her face.

"What's wrong?" he asked, hoping he hadn't already ruined their date by doing something stupid. No, he couldn't have done, they'd only met up five minutes ago!

"I can't remember how to stand in these," Rachel mumbled, a cute blush spreading over her cheeks. Nick grinned, relief flooding over him. Thankfully he was good enough at skating to be able to confidently help Rachel, promising himself that if they were to fall, he'd let Rachel land on top of him. Innocently, of course, he reminded himself, shaking away any hint of _those _thoughts. Not the time and place. He carefully pulled Rachel off the bench and helped to steady her.

"Ready?" he questioned with a grin on his face. Rachel glanced up at him briefly before giving a determined nod. She could do this. She was Rachel Berry, after all. The pair pushed off holding hands, with Nick ready to catch Rachel at any given time. Soon enough Rachel found her rhythm and was soon skating around Central Park hand in hand with Nick, totally oblivious to anyone who might recognise her. She threw her head back and roared with laughter at Nick's jokes, and loved that she was able to enjoy herself so much with him. She felt free, which was an odd feeling to have, especially when she enjoyed her life so much already.

"Okay, I'm beat!" Rachel announced over an hour later. She came to a stop in front of the same bench they had pushed off from and plopped down onto it. "I need nourishment!"

Nick took a seat next to Rachel and pulled his skates off, replacing them with his shoes which had been stored in his backpack. He swapped Rachel the skates for her shoes before swinging the backpack back onto his shoulders.

"Well, where did you want to go?" he questioned, "I kinda didn't think as far ahead as lunch."

"Oh, Nick," Rachel sang, shaking her head, "when I say nourishment, I don't mean lunch. I mean sugar. And I happen to know the best cupcake bakery just across the way, if you want to go? My treat."

"Cupcakes sound great," Nick replied, standing up from the bench, "but I'm paying."

"No you're not!" Rachel protested, standing up and linking her hand with his. She marvelled at just how natural their hands felt together, they fit comfortably around each other as if their hands were meant to be together. She quickly shook the ridiculous thought out of her head, whilst she enjoyed spending time with Nick, and he had been nothing short of wonderful on both of their dates, it was far too soon to be thinking that far ahead into the future.

"I never even knew this place existed," Nick confessed, as they sat at a small table next to the window of the bakery. "But their cake is awesome."

Rachel beamed, glad Nick was enjoying it. He was the only person she had actually shared this bakery with, it had been her own private discovery a couple of years ago, and she had kept it to herself, even though she knew Blaine and Kurt would have enjoyed the bakery and its charm. She wasn't really sure what had possessed her to bring Nick here, other than the fact that it just seemed right to do so. Plus, he hadn't reacted strangely at her order, which rarely changed each time she visited the place. So what she enjoyed their vegan chocolate cupcakes so much she happened to order three at a time along with a strong black coffee? Not to be outdone, Nick had asked the server to double the order and insisted on paying for the entire thing, much to Rachel's annoyance.

"I didn't bring you here to pay for this!" Rachel protested. She felt awful, especially as she knew the cupcakes weren't exactly cheap.

"It's fine," Nick replied, taking a swig of his coffee. "If I hadn't of wanted to pay, I wouldn't have."

Rachel was tempted to argue more but decided to drop the topic, moving onto something different.

"So, Nick. I don't know a great deal about you, and you don't know a great deal about me. So, I think we should play a game."

"A game?" Nick replied, his eyebrows raised in surprise.

"Yeah. You ask me one question about myself, and then I ask you one question about yourself. Then if we want to find out more about each other, we'll have to go on another date, so we can ask more questions." Rachel was secretly quite proud of the way she phrased the idea. She had learnt a lot about subtlety these past few years and was happy to be able to put it into practice. She watched as Nick's face broke into a huge smile.

"That sounds good. So, what do you want me to tell you?"

"What made you want to be a writer?" Nick blinked in surprise, not expecting Rachel to have asked this question first.

"Wow. This is a tough question, because I didn't decide to be a writer, much like I guess you didn't decide to become a performer. You know when you feel like you have a calling in life, something that you feel like you're made to do?" Nick questioned. Rachel nodded, and he popped a small piece of cake in his mouth and chewed it thoughtfully before continuing. "Well, I guess it was like that for me. I had always been good at English in school, and I liked the subject enough to consider taking it at Yale. I'd get these ideas that just wouldn't leave me until I'd formed them into a story, and before I knew it, I had at least fifty half-completed stories saved on my laptop. When I went to college, I finally wrote a story from start to finish, and thought, you know, I could make a career out of this. And I guess I got lucky, because I have."

"You're amazing at what you do," Rachel replied, smiling at the faint blush that appeared on Nick's cheeks.

"My turn!" he announced. "And you're going to have to promise not to hit me for asking you this, but I'm just really curious to know."

"Okay." Rachel said, slightly worried with what question was about to leave Nick's mouth.

"How many frozen margaritas did it take to convince you to go on that date?"

"Nick!" Rachel squealed. "What kind of a question is that?"

"That's not an answer."

"Ugh, fine. It was three. Three frozen strawberry margaritas led me to one of the best dates I've ever been on."


	3. Chapter 3

Somehow, Nick's date with Rachel had managed to cure his writer's block. Well, strictly speaking, a change of scenery in the form of the bakery that Rachel had taken him to had cured his writer's block, and Nick was well into the first draft of his second novel. He continued to visit the bakery to work, thankfully the owners didn't mind, mainly because he barely used any of the free wi-fi they offered to their patrons.

"Hey Nick," Harry, the guy who manned the counter a majority of the time greeted as Nick stumbled sleepily through the bakery's doors. "Would you like your usual?"

"Morning Harry," Nick replied, stifling a yawn as he shuffled over to the table he had claimed as his own. "Yes, please."

Harry got to work making Nick's order and Nick opened up his laptop, checking his emails before opening up the document that contained his current project. He worked solidly on his draft, barely stopping long enough to drink his coffee. At some point later on that morning the door chimed again, and Nick barely registered a female voice before the chair opposite him was pulled back and the someone plopped into it, much to Nick's annoyance. He came to a suitable point in his draft to stop before saving and closing his laptop with a small click, surprised to see Rachel sat opposite him, staring intently at him.

"This bakery was supposed to be my secret," she smiled, before pushing a chocolate cupcake in his direction. "I figured you were working hard and deserved a reward. How's the draft coming along?"

"Really well," Nick replied, slipping his laptop back into his bag. "I think I'll be finished with it by the end of the month, which is saying something considering I hadn't even hit half way when we went on our date. How are rehearsals going?"

"They're nerve-wracking! Everyone's feeling the pressure now, considering we open in four days' time! Blaine and I are fine, of course, we've been waiting for this moment for our entire lives, but some of the newer recruits barely remember their left from their right!" Rachel exclaimed, glancing at her cell as it lit up with an incoming text message. Choosing not to reply to it, she turned the phone face down on the table and re-focused her attention on Nick, who was eating his cupcake, smearing icing onto himself in the process. "You've got a little on your face."

"Really? Whereabouts?"

"Just here," Rachel replied, wiping the icing off his face and holding it in front of Nick. Without thinking, Nick licked the chocolate off Rachel's finger and continued eating, completely oblivious to the fiery blush that was covering Rachel's cheeks. And, just as her luck would have it, Harry chose that moment to bring her coffee over to their table. Rachel swore she could hear him giggling at her as he walked away. Finished with his cupcake, Nick glanced up at Rachel.

"Are you feeling okay? You look a little warm."

"I'm fine," she smiled, purposely turning away from Harry as his quiet giggles turned into full-on laughter. Rachel and Nick sat in a comfortable silence, with Nick lost in thought and Rachel sipping her coffee and making plans to go to lunch with Kurt and Blaine, deciding she would drag Nick along too, knowing Blaine hadn't seen his friend in a while.

"If you could change anything in your past, would you?" Nick asked, breaking the silence between them and startling Rachel so much she almost spat out the mouthful of coffee she had been drinking.

"What?" she spluttered, wiping her mouth and setting her coffee down on the table, not trusting herself with the cup.

"Well, I figured that this is kind of a date, because you bought me a cake , and you said you wanted to take part in that game last time, so I'm continuing on," Nick shrugged, stretching his arms over his head. His shirt rode up a little with the action and it was all Rachel could do to not look at his newly-exposed skin. "But if you don't want to answer it, that's fine."

"High school." Rachel said, looking down at the table before looking up and meeting Nick's inquisitive eyes. "I would change my entire high school experience, particularly with how I acted when New Directions was first started. I'd have tried out for the Cheerios, regardless of the outcome. And I wouldn't have allowed my heart to have been trampled on as much as it was. I don't regret anything, because life is too short to waste time wishing you'd have done something differently, but if I _could _change something, that would be it."

Nick didn't know how best to reply to Rachel, especially as she looked so despondent, so he simply reached his hand across the table and grasped her hand in his, linking their fingers together. Rachel squeezed his hand in thanks, before looking up with a small smile on her face.

"My turn for a question."

"Go ahead."

"Have you got any plans for lunch today?"

"Nope. Nothing planned at all," Nick replied, surprised at the question that had escaped her mouth. Without warning, Rachel leapt out of her chair, signalling at Nick to do the same.

"Fantastic!" she sang, "we're going to meet Blaine and Kurt for lunch!" Nick just about had enough time to grab his bag and shout a goodbye to Harry before Rachel grabbed hold of his arm and dragged him out of the bakery.

"Hey, Nick!" Blaine exclaimed, wrapping Nick in a brief hug and Rachel and Nick arrived at their lunch destination. "Long time no see!"

"You're not kidding," Nick smiled, reaching out to hug Kurt. "How has life been treating you two?"

"It has been treating us very well, thank you for asking," Kurt replied as he led the group into the restaurant. "Although I'm sure this show is going to be the death of Blaine and Rachel."

"Is not," the pair immediately replied, intently studying their menus. Kurt caught Nick's eye and sent him a huge grin before focusing his attention on the menu, Nick doing the same.


End file.
